The Ribbon Close to her Heart
by Keisuke Cloudberry
Summary: Sequel to Of Clips and Ribbons. All hell breaks loose when Marui Bunta tranfers to Fudoumine. Now he has his chances with her, but the only problem was, Kirihara didn't want to lose.
1. From Tensai to Tensed

**Title: **Of Clips and Ribbons: The Ribbon Close to her Heart

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Prince of Tennis and all the characters you may recognize from this fic. Only this story and its prequel, Of Clips and Ribbons belong to me.

**Warnings: **Probably just Niou perving on Ann, and a lame sequel XD.

**Rating: **Uh…C for Crack?

**Summary: **All hell breaks lose when 'lucky' Marui Bunta gets chosen to transfer to Fudoumine Chuu. With Kamio Akira, Kirihara Akaya, Rikkai Dai, deranged fangirls and not to mention the dreaded Onii-chan interfering with his blooming love for Tachibana-imouto, will he be able to survive his new life?

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「**Chapter 1- "From Tensai to Tensed"**」

"_Do you know what Ann-chan's first words were? Ma-sa-chan. Not Ma-ru-chan, got it?" _

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"_I, Tachibana Ann from Fudoumine Middle school, have chosen Marui Bunta from class 3-B to participate in the upcoming Student Visit Program."_

Marui Bunta stood in front of a small house located in the big city of Tokyo, his luggage safely placed behind him. A week had passed since he heard the _big news_, and now he's going to transfer to the unknown school, Fudoumine.

He stared at the wooden door in front of him, hesitating on whether to knock or call out to the inhabitants of the Tachibana residence. Before he actually absorbed the whole situation he got entangled in, he was already ready to live in a place far away from home.

He blinked quite a few times as someone opened the door, a female with short russet colored hair and glistening azure eyes stood in front of him, an enthralling smile gracing her lips.

"Ann.."

Her sapphire orbs and his amethyst eyes met each other in one quick glance.

"Marui-san! It's good to see you again!" The girl gave him a quick hug, and then welcomed him inside her home. The redhead instantly followed her inside, pulling all his things with him.

"I'll go get you something to eat, Marui-san, you can stay here," She told the tensai, and the latter could only nod. The girl left and proceeded to the kitchen. Marui momentarily scanned the room he was in, and there, he spotted another person, seated on one of the couches, reading a sports magazine. Marui Bunta gulped, he was more intimidating than he thought.

Tachibana Kippei looked up from his magazine and eyed the boy. The latter stuttered a bit, then greeted the Fudoumine tennis captain.

"Ah…I…I'm Marui Bunta from Rikkai Dai Fuzoku." He told him abruptly, standing straighter than usual. Marui didn't know why he was so tensed, he never really been like that for quite a long time, because usually, he would be bragging about his great tennis skills and adroitness.

"Tachibana Kippei," Fudoumine's captain greeted, nodding as he looked up to the tensai.

"A-aah, hai." Marui abruptly answered, bowing ever so stiffly. "Yoroshiku!"

'_What am I so clammed up about? I'm the tensai! Rikkai Dai's greatest tensai!' _Marui thought, his body shaking nervously as he narrowed his eyes on the ground.

Tensai instantly became tensed.

"Marui-san! Here's some tea and cake!" Ann, who just got out of the kitchen, called up to him and gave him a warm smile.

"Uh…domo," Marui's hands were a bit shaky as he accepted the treats Ann readied for him. He then took a seat, a tad bit remote from the dreaded 'onii-chan' as he was still intimidated by him.

"I'm not going to eat you," He heard Kippei say, but the latter didn't bother to look up from what he was reading. Marui flinched. It was that obvious? Now he's even more scared. His thoughts were then disturbed when he heard a feint laugh from none other than Tachibana Ann.

"Ah…so the ever so arrogant, self-proclaimed tensai is afraid of my onii-chan?" She taunted, sneering at him insultingly. Marui shivered, her sneer was almost that of the trickster, Niou Masaharu.

Now this was torture. Tachibana version. Oh the agony.

The tensai mentally sulked, biting the piece of strawberry cake from his fork. Torture just loved him so much, and even followed him to Tokyo. The Tachibana siblings could only cast an odd look on him.

Kippei then stood up, leaving the magazine he was reading not a moment before in the small rack beside him.

"Ann, I'll be going out to take a short walk for a while okay?" Kippei said and took a quick glance at Marui. "And don't do anything weird to our guest okay?"

Ann gave him a quick glare and nodded, "Hai, I won't do anything."

"Marui Bunta," Kippei then faced Marui's direction. "Hope you enjoy your short stay here."

Marui fidgeted, squirmed, and moved relentlessly, "Hai, Aniki…!"

Tachibana Kippei gazed surprisingly at him, looking at the tensai like he was some loony who got even more mad. Ann too, gave the redhead a flabbergasted expression.

Marui looked at them oddly, it was like there was something wrong with what he said. What wrong did he do now?

'_Aniki…'_

Marui's eyes slowly widened in shock. Did he just slip? Why did he call him aniki? He was not his brother, so…why? Marui mentally slapped himself for being such an idiot, calling a random tennis player his big brother because he likes his sister. Wait. Scratch that. He did not just think of that. No. He didn't. Marui automatically covered his mouth to preclude himself from further embarrassment. He then waited and watched for Kippei's next reaction.

Silence.

"Maa. I'll be going now." With that, Tachibana Kippei took off. Too abruptly.

"Sayonara!" Marui bid farewell, more politely than ever. _"Please, I beg you, go away and live at the far ends of the world and never come back."_

There was deafening silence felt all over the room for a few seconds before the 'other' Tachibana broke it.

"Ah, Marui-san, I'm sure you're tired from your trip, do you want me to show you to your room or something?" Ann laughed nervously and pulled one of Marui's bags up.

"Yes, please," The redhead whispered ultimate thanks and rose up from his seat, pulling his other stuff with him. Ann went upstairs, signaling the tensai to follow, in which the tensai complied.

Marui took a single step up the stairs, then was surprised to hear a loud bang coming from the door. Ann instantly peeked downstairs and was surprised to see three familiar tennis boys clad in yellow.

"Tachibana Ann-chaaaaaaann!!!!" Niou Masaharu squealed as he ran inside the house, with Kirihara Akaya and Jackal Kuwahara following him close. Marui and Ann gave him, or rather, them, surprised looks.

"Niou-sempai!" Ann gave them a wide smile, squealing like the Trickster. Niou scratched his head and gave her a cheeky trickster grin.

"See that, Jackal? She still calls me sempai, very touching," Niou turned to the Brazilian tennis player and faked a tear, "They grow up so fast…"

"Congratulations." Jackal whipped up an uncaring reply then directed a quick smile to Ann.

"It was just like yesterday that Ann-chan was snuggled up in my arms, saying her first words…" Niou kept on mumbling, which earned him a popping vein from the tensai nearby.

"That never happened, Niou." Marui pointed out, both annoyed and stupefied. "What are you guys doing here anyway?"

"My, my," Niou grinned menacingly at the redhead. "You want her all to your self, don't you?"

"Wha-? No--"

"Do you know what Ann-chan's first words were? Ma-sa-chan. Not Ma-ru-chan, got it?" Niou narrowed his eyes at Marui. Marui then gulped. "And look at Akaya! He's becoming unhealthy!"

"And I thought for sure that Okaa-san told me my first words were 'it's a date'…" Ann mused with Jackal. Jackal nodded in agreement.

"I thought so too."

"What unhealthy? He looks perfectly fine!"

"You call that 'perfectly fine'?!" Niou pointed at the _subject of affection, _who was mumbling what they thought were incantations.

"I…I…I'm at Ann's house, seeing Ann's living room, seeing Ann in shorts and a spaghetti strapped shirt…"

As realization dawned upon the four boys, all their eyes turned to the said girl. And she was indeed wearing what Akaya stated. Jackal didn't react much yet Marui and Akaya's faces have instantly formed blushes. Niou on the other hand, gave Ann an devilish smirk.

"What? Is there something on my face?" Ann raised a brow at all of them, noticing their weird looks on her.

"You know you look sexy in that, Ann-chan…" Niou pointed her pink shirt. Ann could only place her right hand on her hips and give Niou 'the look'.

"Okay, okay, stopping now." Niou grinned and turned to Marui. "Now do you see how Akaya is being unhealthy? Maybe later he'll nosebleed!"

"Whatever Niou."

"So, Niou-sempai, why are you guys here anyway?"

"Well," Niou paused, briefly thinking of how to put things into a simple explanation. "Buchou, Sanada and Yanagi were dropping by to Tokyo for some tennis meeting with some school and _we_ decided to tag along."

"You mean _you_…" Jackal muttered silently.

"What happened to this guy?" Ann suddenly pointed at Kirihara, who was busy indulging in a reverie.

"He just probably misses you so much and got too shocked to see you again." Niou said and took a seat on one of the couches. "But maybe…"

"Maybe?" Marui arched an elegant brow at the trickster, sensing that he was up to something no good yet again.

"Maybe if you give Sleeping Beauty here a kiss, he might wake up from his short trance." Niou gave them one last devious grin.

"No way in hell am I going to do that." Ann said, crossing her arms and looking away. Marui silently gave a sigh of relief and smirked at the trickster.

"Too bad, Niou the trickster. Looks like Ann's not going to bargain."

"True, my kisses aren't for free anyway."

"You did it once before, right? Before you left Kanagawa you kissed Akaya. And the day before that. AND probably the day before that as well. To sum up you at least got four kisses during your stay in Rikkai Dai. You wouldn't want Fudoumine-san to know all of this, do you? Your Onii-chan."

"--_But _since you put up such a great bargain, I'll do it. Just don't tell anything to Onii-chan or I'll get smashed." Ann immediately changed her mind since Kippei was put into the subject.

Marui could only slap his forehead.

Ann neared the dazzled boy and leaned for a kiss. Niou watched the unfolding scene excitedly, wishing that there was dumpling-flavored popcorn in his hands. Jackal just stood there, sweat dropping, while Marui stood in surprise.

Five…four…three…two…one…

Ann's lips touched the ace's, effectively waking the junior ace up. Kirihara snapped out of it then turned to look at Ann's blushing face.

"Ja-ja-ja-ja-jackal! Do you see what I see?! Finally! There! A blush on Tachibana Ann's face!" Niou screamed, shouted, yelled eagerly, seeing a face Ann never expressed before. "Where's my Camera, Where's my Camera?!!!!!!"

"You sure are excited about this."

Realization hits Kirihara and his eyes widened in deep surprise. He slowly pointed his shaking hand at her as he shouted,

"Ann!"

And so did the person on the door shouted. All eyes turned to the person on the door, Tachibana Kippei. Ann's eyes were the most terrified of all.

"_I, Tachibana Ann from Fudoumine Middle School, am so dead."_

_**To be Continued...**  
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_**A/N: **I haven't pretty much to say except that I made a sequel for my other story, 'Of Clips and Ribbons.' I'm currently trying to get over my writer's block so please bear with my possible late updates and probably lame chapters, but I'll try my best to produce a good story. XD -is being dramatically idiotic- I finished this a few days ago, but since I'm to lame to think of a good summary I only had the chance to post it now. Nevertheless, I hope you leave a review, it'll help me so much! XD

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_Later that day…_

_Marui: Wasn't this supposed to be my story? -sniffs-_

_Jackal: There, there. -pats Marui-_

12/12/08

。_Keisuke_ _Cloudberry_。


	2. The Brother of Two

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**Of Clips and Ribbons : The Ribbon Close to her Heart**

**「****Chapter 2 - "The Brother of Two"」**

"_It's a tradition in Kanagawa that if you haven't seen a person for quite a long time, you kiss them."_

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"Ann!"

Kirihara Akaya and Tachibana Ann stood surprisingly at Kippei, unsure of what they should do. Ann tried her best to fight the urge to throw Niou-sempai out of the house while Kirihara just couldn't stop staring at his _archenemy_.

Kippei had a mixed feeling of surprise, curiosity, anger and indigestion. He couldn't totally figure out why his sister would do that. Plus, he didn't exactly know the reason why half of the infamous team who knocked Fudoumine down was staying inside his house, as if it was their own. Now he wondered why he agreed to let his sister go to Rikkai Dai. And he totally forgotten that he needed to use the bathroom.

Great.

"What are you all doing here?" Kippei tried his best to ask calmly, demanding the trickster for an answer.

Niou answered him with a devilish grin and said, "We're just dropping by to see our favorite girl, onii-chan."

"Niou-sempai…" Ann warned the trickster in a whisper, saying not to go too far. Niou gave him an assuring smirk, which was then Ann figured out that she's dead.

There was an eerie silence before a newcomer decided to brake that up.

"Such a commotion in your house, Tachibana Kippei-san," A new voice joined in. All eyes turned to the door and everybody spotted the child of God, Yukimura Seiichi, smiling at them innocently. "All because of my teammates, perhaps?"

"Yukimura Seiichi," Kippei gave a warning glance at Ann before turning to face Yukimura. "Your ace just kissed my sister."

"On the contrary, Ann was the one--" before Niou could even continue what he was about to say, Ann had already sent him a death glare.

"Okay, okay,"

"Mmm…" Yukimura mused for a second, then eyed the two teens, who were both begging him for help. "Don't worry Tachibana-san…It's a tradition in Kanagawa that when you see a person you haven't seen for quite a long time, you kiss them."

"We're doomed." Both Ann and Kirihara said in unison, with no evidence of hope seen on every word. Niou could only slap his forehead.

"Sou ka?" Tachibana Kippei tapped his chin for a second and then sighed. "Well I guess I'll let you off the hook this time."

"Really--?!"

"But please refrain yourself from kissing random boys from random places, Ann. It's happens quite too often," Kippei mused with closed eyes as Ann could only sweat drop. "Look what happened to Echizen Ryoma…"

"Wha--?!!" Niou, Kirihara and Marui all shouted in disbelief, "Echizen Ryoma?!"

Ann gave them a quick wink and whispered, "Hi-mi-tsu!"

"Come on boys, we have to go now," Yukimura reminded the other three. "Genichirou and the others are waiting for us at the station."

"Ah. Yukimura-san, is Yanagi-san there as well?" Ann briefly interrupted, hoping that Yukimura would answer her with a yes. Marui and Kirihara had yet to raise their brows on her.

"_Yanagi? What's she got to do with him?" _They both thought out of curiosity.

"_Yanagi?"_ Niou mused, then a wide trickster smirk appeared on his face. _"Puri…"_

Jackal eyed the swindler, a small tinge of horror visible on his expression. _"Uh-oh."_

Trickster mode.

"Yes he's there as well," Yukimura answered, giving her an assuring smile. For once, Marui actually thought he saw a glint of a trickster's eyes on her blue orbs.

"Can I drop a message then?" As soon as she saw Yukimura nod, she leaned towards the captain and gave her message through a whisper. Yukimura nodded once more and gave her a beam.

"Well, we better go now, Ann-chan," Yukimura said and patted her head, and a tinge of pink shortly appeared on her cheeks.

She smiled to Yukimura as she watched them step out of the house. "Have a safe trip!"

"Aniki…! I'll miss you!" Kirihara shouted randomly, which earned him a smack from Jackal. Kippei could only give him a blank stare.

They all waved goodbye to her, with Jackal dragging Kirihara out of the house and Niou smirking continuously at them and it was as if his eyes were telling them, '_I've got my eyes on you,_'. Marui and Ann sweat dropped.

Ann continued to wave goodbye not until Kippei shot the door close, his face painted with exasperation. Ann gulped.

"I let you off the hook because Yukimura-san tried his best to excuse you guys."

"_What was best in buchou's excuse?" _Marui silently snorted as he put his hands inside his pockets.

"I don't want it to happen again, got it, Ann?" Kippei patiently scolded his sister. Ann could only give the other a pout.

"Hai."

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"You okay?" A worried redhead peeked over Tachibana Ann's door, unsure if he should enter the room or not.

"I'm fine." Ann abruptly answered, scribbling some notes on the notebook on her bed.

Marui sighed, then finally decided to enter the room. He walked over to her then sat beside her. Ann laid down on her bed, boredom thoroughly visible on her face. Marui let out another sigh. What was he doing inside her room in the middle of the night anyway? If Kippei caught them, hell knows what he would think of.

"Couldn't sleep?" Her voice stopped his trail of thought, and he immediately faced her.

"Maybe. Yeah."

"Me too."

"He's just concerned about you, that's all," Marui broke the silence before it could even initiate, and told her in a comforting manner. Ann could only release another aggravated sigh and face the other direction.

"Everybody says that," She told him, boredom evident in her voice. "But it's just all about taking away my freedom.

Marui snorted, which made Ann raise an elegant brow on him.

"What's so funny?" She asked him annoyingly.

"Nothing." Marui insisted. "It's just that you're confusing. At first, you didn't want to kiss Akaya, and then you're angry because Tachibana-san prevented you from doing so,"

Marui was cut by his own laughter.

"In short, you just wanted to kiss Akay--"

"Sempai, since when have you started being annoying?"

"Just now."

"Why?"

"I don't know, probably just to make a sulking girl smile." Marui gave her a cheeky grin, which now made the other snort.

"Don't grin, you look like Kirihara-kun, you look idiotic." Ann said, then gave him a smile. "I like it though…"

Then the two broke into laughter as Marui clutched his stomach and Ann giggled softly. Marui paused for a bit, then faced her again.

"So, wanna tell me what happened between you and the Echizen guy?"

Ann giggled again, then rose up from her bed excitedly.

"Well it started out like this," Ann let out another giggle as Marui eagerly listened.

_Oyasumi…_

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Tachibana Ann yawned as she rose from her bed, reminding herself to break a certain alarm clock that destroyed her slumber. She moaned and took a look at the clock again.

She blinked a few times when something…or rather, someone, nudged her back. She slowly turned and revealed a redhead sleeping beside her, snoring softly like a kid. Her eyes slowly widened in surprise when realization dawned upon her. Out of reflexes, she let out a scream, one in which woke the tensai up.

Marui too, blinked a few times and realized that _that_ was the situation they were in. But he wouldn't scream, not in a million years. He was manly. And men never scream. Unless they were in a situation where the super terrifying brother of your crush is about to kill you because you accidentally slept beside his sister _was_ the situation. Wait. Did he just thought of her as his crush?

Ugh, screw that. That was not the situation.

"Ann! Marui! You guys are gonna be late if you don't wake up!" A voice came from downstairs, which the two figured out to be Kippei.

"Wha-at a-are you…do-ing here?!" Marui pointed his shaking finger at her, unable to say what he wanted to say properly. Ann crossed her arms and pointed out,

"I should be the one asking you that," Ann told him, which made him realize that she was correct.

"Ann!" Another order from Kippei was heard.

"Hai!" Ann jumped off her bed, leaving the redhead alone in the room, flabbergasted.

"_Second day and I'm really about to get retarded…"_

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Marui went down the flight of stairs and got to the kitchen, where the Tachibana siblings have just finished preparing breakfast. Marui secretly raised an eyebrow at Kippei, unsure if the latter saw them sleeping beside each other or not. He then shrugged, probably he didn't, because if he did, by now he would've killed him, right? And if he did, hell know what's he's gonna do.

"Itadakimasu."

* * *

Marui Bunta sighed. Why was he the only one thinking about what happened a while ago? Ann still seemed energetic, as usual. Does she even care? And how did he even fall asleep in there anyway? A bump in the head? Pills? A poisonous kiss?!!

Marui clutched his head in frustration. What?!

"You must think that I'm a dangerous, evil and merciless seductress, don't you?" Ann's voice flushed away all his thoughts. Marui looked to her and sweat dropped.

"You know me that well?"

"Wasn't that hard to figure out when a usually composed guy starts clutching his head while on the way to school…"

"Where's Ani-- I mean, Tachibana-san? He left right after eating." Marui tried to change subjects, which evidently succeeded. Ann mused for a bit before answering.

"Well, sometimes he goes to school early to train with the tennis club." Ann giggled. "He's so supportive of the team."

"Tennis club, huh…" Marui muttered in quite a low voice, which made the girl worry.

"Want to join the tennis club?" Ann flashed a smile at him, which made him smile as well.

"Hm. Maybe, let's give it a shot." Marui was back to his proud self. "But when I beat everyone in the club, that makes me captain, right?"

"Haha, in your dreams, gum boy." Ann chuckled and pushed him playfully.

They stopped in their tracks as they found the said school in front of them. Anxiety had yet com back to Marui.

"Well, here we are, Fudoumine."

Slowly, they entered the school, holding their bags in place and directing towards the main building. Some girls gave a long stare at Marui. Probably amazed by his _'good looks'_. Marui spotted a few staring, which made him smirk a bit. He blew a bubble from his gum he ate a while ago, to boost up his 'coolness'.

Ah, arrogant as ever.

Now there were a few murmurs starting; a few girls were looking how close Marui and Ann walked beside each other. Others were starting to form weird gossips.

"Is he the one?"

"The transferee from Rikkai Dai Fuzoku? I think so…"

"He has such a cool aura…"

"Is he, Ann-san's boyfriend?"

Marui choked at the thought. Him and Ann…together? Hah, if he was that lucky, he would've killed Akaya by just holding Ann's hand. Sadly, he wasn't. He's just a transferee helped by the resident popular girl anyway. But, he's still kind of cool.

Well, that was what he thought.

"Probably, they look so cute together!"

"Wai…Ann-san's so lucky!"

"TACHIBANA ANN HAS A BOYFRIEND?!!!" A random guy shouted, which effectively made all the pupils around turn to face the two. Ann was surprised, she didn't seem to hear all of the gossips that started like virus.

The same guy pointed at Marui. He had an expression of hate and disappointment pasted on his face. Marui sweat dropped. _"Poor you," _he thought.

Suddenly, all the other guys in the area started having the same faces, and they were all glaring at Marui. Weird. What'd he do?

"GET HIM!"

Now they had all started running towards the tensai's direction. Panicking, Marui ran, which lost all his 'coolness'. The guys chased him as he entered the building.

"Ann-chan, we feel for your guy…" A random girl patted her shoulder, as if trying to comfort her.

"Ann-chan that's okay!" Another one said.

"Here we go again…" Ann rested her face on her palm and sweat dropped.

"ANN-CHAN HAS A WHAT?!"

"Kamio-kun!"

_**To be Continued...**_

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**A/N: **Kind of a little boring, huh? :3 Yeah, I think I'm losing it. Can't even type an interesting chapter. And the update was damn slow! Sorry everyone, I'm becoming a human turtle. At least, umm….just tell me what you think okay? Probably it'll make me feel better. :D Well, that's it for chapter two…yep, that's it. (And I think I almost forgot how to update a chapter.) //021009//

**。**_Keisuke_ _Cloudberry_**。**

And did this just take me two months?!


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